How John McDonnell wooed Mumsnet - James Kirkup

McDonnel has not even been put on Terfblocker, so it looks like no one is believing he gives a shit about women’s rights.

It's time for all MPs who care about women to speak up

Definitely!

& urgently!
James Kirkup: 'If MPs can’t debate a rapist in a woman’s jail, politics has failed'
(extract)
"The story of transgender policy in Britain today is a story of political failure, where many people fail to do their job and speak openly about matters of clear public interest. Writing about it this year, I’ve grown accustomed to that failure, though no less angry about it.

But even by the dismal standards of the trans debate, where supposedly responsible figures routinely shirk their duties to appease a small, aggressive group of activists and lobbyists, John Bercow’s decision strikes me as repulsive, a disgusting abdication of responsibility that brings shame on its author and his office."

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3365319-new-kirkup-article-about-bercow-s-refusal-to-let-mps-discuss-karen-white

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3369090-To-ask-you-to-care-that-ANOTHER-paedophile-MALE-who-targeted-girls-who-claims-to-be-a-woman-has-been-moved-to-a-womans-prison-Having-got-a-GRC-IN-PRISON-FFS

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3368746-Dangerous-sex-offender-transferred-to-womens-prison-Peterborough

Further urgent questions for MPs to consider:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3325623-Jess-Bradley-a-government-advisor-on-womens-rights-suspended-by-NUS-over-indecent-blog-Part-iii

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3297184-Your-comments-for-Penny-Mordaunt

If Kirkup is right and there are loads of MPs who want to speak up but are too scared, this will have given them a bit of confidence. The shadow chancellor has come on MN and said he is consulting with WPUK. A couple of months ago this would have been unimaginable.

Considering his shocking cowardice over brexit (we have to respect this illegally won vote to appease the far right) he's been brave here. I hate that we're at a place where just saying you're prepared to listen to women is a brave thing to do. But here we are.

Things are shifting.

3 days ago Penny Mordaunt launched an urgent inquiry into the exponential rise in the number of girls referred to gender identity services. 2 days later McDonnell signs up for this webchat. He will have been briefed on the Stella Creasey and the NSPCC webchats (and probably a few more). He will have known what he was getting into. He didn't run away, GC questions were asked, not deleted, answered badly, but answered, nobody appears to have been banned. It's shit that this counts as progress but it does. This is progress.

It's well past time for senior politicians to get away with 'look at me, I'm talking to WPUK, I'm listening to women' and no further comment. They now need to engage with what we're saying.

No politician can be taken seriously on women's rights unless they have a working definition of 'woman'.

It's time for all MPs who care about women to speak up.

Like another poster said, if they're gullible and stupid enough to be taken in by TRA craziness, then what other nonsense will we be forced to accept as a legitimate issue if they got into power.
If you can swallow utter bollocks with looking into it too deeply or even giving a bit of thought re the safeguarding issues, you're not up for the job of running a country.

Rather cynically, was this just his version of Corbyn saying he would meet Linda Bellos and then doing no such thing?

I fear so.

As a gesture of goodwill and good faith, I think John should make Sanctimonious Morph write a #nodebate mea culpa and ensure it's featured on the Grauniad homepage for a week.

Oh yes!

The thought of John McDonnell actually being the Chancellor , or worse the Prime Minister, scares me far more than self ID.

Me too, TBH.

As a gesture of goodwill and good faith, I think John should make Sanctimonious Morph write a #nodebate mea culpa and ensure it's featured on the Grauniad homepage for a week.

Then I might take that load of waffle and deflection from the webchat seriously.

Rather cynically, was this just his version of Corbyn saying he would meet Linda Bellos and then doing no such thing?

Or a power play for our votes when he makes a play to oust Corbyn?

Let’s start a very specific apology list per party and see if any of them will stick their necks out in real life and actually support women.

You know what- they should apologise too- not just

“oh we WILL talk to you..”

Wow! thanks John that’s big of you!!

You need to apologise as a party.

For stacking the odds even higher against us.

For trying to redefine and subvert us.

For attacking us and for calling us TERFS.

For being complicit in shutting us up.

Anything John wants to whack into his dialogue with women can start with all that, and a promise that it won’t happen again. In the form of party policy.

I want it enshrined.

While John gets to work, the rest of the political parties can get their houses in order and their apologies penned as publicly as their silence and compliance has been with all along.

I’m naturally left leaning. I’ve been lucky enough to have an independent to vote for once but otherwise it’s always been Labour or Libdem. Now I can’t vote for either. John Macdonall’s words mean nothing while Lily Madigan is still a Women’s Officer and the party’s tacit endorsement of the way Anne Ruzylo and Linda Bellos have been treated by completely failing to act is an absolute disgrace. Until that changes, I will not vote for them.

Well let’s see him walk the walk. I’ve got little faith in what any politician says, and as far as I can see they haven’t changed any policy. I’m
Not a member any more and I won’t be voting for them until they come out and actively back women to the hilt. Even then I have to say it would still leave a bad enough taste in my mouth that I still may not. How can anyone trust them. If they can do this now when they aren’t in power (as in this is mental.) what mad bolocks are they going to get themselves “groomed” into when all that power goes to their head. I don’t think they are for for the job. I don’t think any of them are. Bring on the jammy dodger party I say.

The thought of John McDonnell actually being the Chancellor , or worse the Prime Minister, scares me far more than self ID.

A splenetic and righteous crowd left without what it came for – full-throated Remainia and a roll-back on the commitment to trans rights.

Who is this utter fuckstick? Roll back what rights, you stupid twat?

And agree with your comment FermatsTheorem to James. Maybe he sees some light but what I and other women see are deflection and weasley words. McD & Labour's behaviour speaks volumes ie men's rights and those of the magic 0.1% override women's.

I had nominated James for breeding stock material but I'm having second thoughts now after that article ;)

As I have said before, the word consensus is obfuscation for don't care. It's all a variant of penis trumps truth.

Have to admit I read John McDonnell's response as "flannel, flannel, flannel, we'll consult, flannel, flannel." It says something about where the discourse is currently that in the climate of fear and silencing and censorship, this comes across as "brave" and "a breath of fresh air" and "a hopeful sign."

Personally I don't think it's any of these things, and I doubt McDonnell will make good on even that half-arsed promise.

James, I'm going to break with my usual tradition here (because normally I love your stuff), but I think this was a bit on the weak side. McDonnell was asked a huge number of very probing questions, most of which he ducked completely - the economy, how Labour would pay for its policies, Brexit, anti-semitism, past associations with terrorist groups, past advocacy for violent protest - all of which he ducked. And the web chat has resulted in a Jewish poster being banned for pointing out that another poster's comments were anti-semitic.

There's much more of a story out there than just McDonnell's weak and half-arsed mutterings about women's rights (which he hasn't actually said he'll do anything about, just said that he'll consult...).

It’s like he just vomited a bunch of misogynistic words and hoped they’d form coherent sentences. They didn’t.

And the answer to anything being “conservatism” is so hilarious, I may have cracked a rib.

Did that individual literally just argue that women should suck up having paedophiles approach our children because we asked for it by breastfeeding them?

Apparently both we and the children should have demonstrated a good British stiff upper lip by having the children starve.

Not a method of pedophile deflection I've heard of before, I have to say.

that guido poster....

a person who refers to breasts as chesticles

it's possible that their opinion is best not sought out I'd suggest....

Good grief. Did that individual literally just argue that women should suck up having paedophiles approach our children because we asked for it by breastfeeding them?

I mean, to be fair, it's better than any other big name politician has managed so far. Which is pathetic, but hey, it's a start.

I agree. At least people are waking up to the fact that they can't ignore us or handwave us away quite so blatantly, much to the chagrin of TRAs and their #nodebate allies, a couple of whom I saw threaten to leave if Labour concede an inch of ground on TWAW.

Really wish I hadn’t followed that link Free - some of the more vile and delusional nonsense I’ve read in a while.

I mean, to be fair, it's better than any other big name politician has managed so far. Which is pathetic, but hey, it's a start.